ZIP 48818 vs ZIP 48889

This side-by-side compares ZIP 48818 (Crystal, MI) and ZIP 48889 (Sumner, MI) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 48818 has a population of 2,407 at 37 people per square mile, while ZIP 48889 has 1,322 at 17 per square mile. That difference in population size and density alone reshapes how every other metric should be interpreted — a higher-income ZIP with 1,200 residents behaves very differently from one with 45,000.

On income and education, ZIP 48818 reports a median household income of $55,924 against $60,200 in ZIP 48889, with per-capita income of $37,293 vs $41,922. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 21.5% in 48818 and 11.4% in 48889. Poverty rate reads 12.1% vs 11.2%, and unemployment 6.4% vs 7.0% — these four fields alone drive most of the difference in the scorecard grades you will see for each ZIP.

Housing separates these two ZIPs further: median home value sits at $191,700 in 48818 versus $157,900 in 48889, with median rent of $811 and $1,115 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 88.3% vs 83.8%. When reading the comparison table below, focus on paired metrics rather than single winners — a ZIP with lower home values and lower income is not strictly "worse" if rent-to-income ratios and commute times land in the same zone. Every value is pulled from the exact same ACS table so the two columns are genuinely comparable.